'Bubble & Squeak' writer and director Evan Twohy along with stars Dave Franco, Sarah Goldberg and Himesh Patel stop by THR's studio at Park City to talk about their new film. They dish on the meaning behind the title of the film, their first reaction to the script and more.
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00:00When I first read the scripts, my character was written as a 55 year old, like, really grizzled Australian man, and I was like, interesting.
00:08And when I talked to him, I was like, hey, I love this role, but like, can I ask, like, why me?
00:15And he was basically like, Neighbors 2. I love Neighbors 2. I'm like, not Neighbors 1. He's like, Neighbors 2.
00:26How would you describe Buzz, a bubble and a squeaker?
00:29Oh, well, I think a squeaker is sort of trying to slip through life on a traditional.
00:38And I think a bubbler, a bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble.
00:43Ever-messing.
00:45I think it's a screwball comedy.
00:48In a nutshell, yeah, I started writing it as a short play, sort of a purely absurdist exercise for myself.
00:58And I put it up a few times, but that was so long ago.
01:02And then 10 years later, I went back to it.
01:05It was sort of this one pure thing of me.
01:09I never really realized why I wrote it, but then later it sort of made sense to make into this larger thing.
01:17If you could explain for people who might not know what the significance of the title is.
01:23Yeah, so Bubble and Squeak is a dish made of cabbages.
01:28And it's named after the sound that cabbages make when they're being boiled or fried.
01:37And yeah, I think in our film, some people bubble and some people squeak, perhaps, when they're going through life.
01:47I think I'm a squeaker in my everyday life.
01:51I like to live a pretty boring life, but then I think I'm a bubbler in my work life.
01:59I think I'm a bubbler.
02:01Well, the character, certainly.
02:03And yeah, I think in life, a bit of bubble's happening.
02:08You're a bubbler in the best way.
02:10Thanks, thanks.
02:13I just thought it was so incredibly unique and specific and I could see the vision immediately.
02:24And that only grew when I spoke to Evan and got the idea of what it is he wanted to make and how meaningful it was to him.
02:32Yeah, but just straight off the page, I was immediately invested.
02:38I mean, I hadn't read anything like it.
02:40One of my agents called me to say, I've got this script.
02:43It's so weird.
02:44I don't get it at all.
02:45I really think you should do it.
02:47And I read it and I was just blown away.
02:49I really, you know, I think the theatrical sensibility of it that came from it starting out as a play,
02:57I was really drawn to because the language is so rhythmic and the text is so, it's just, it's every comma has a place.
03:04Like, it's just so beautifully executed.
03:07And I'd never read anything like it.
03:09And then this sort of idea of this adult fairy tale as metaphor for what a relationship looks like.
03:17And even like with Evan talking about that, he started it so long ago and then, you know, his life has taken so many turns.
03:23And that's all in the relationship of two people who maybe really love each other, but maybe aren't right for each other.
03:30And so I was just drawn to that.
03:32There was this beautiful heart to this thing that was, it had an emotional pulse.
03:36But the actual execution of it is totally absurd and has this whimsy that you talk about.
03:42And I just, you know, it's so rare in life that you read a script and go, I'll do anything to do this.
03:48It just had that kind of magic to it.
03:51So then, you know, we met in COVID on Zoom and we've talked a lot about cabbage since then.
03:57And yeah, it was pretty magical experience.
04:01Was that everyone's first time in Estonia?
04:04Oh, yes.
04:05Second time for me.
04:07Oh, yeah.
04:08Compare and contrast.
04:10The first time I was literally there for a day.
04:14And then we were locals.
04:16Yeah, locals probably.
04:18I had no idea. I didn't know what we were walking into.
04:21I guess that was Estonia.
04:23Yeah. I mean, we spent so much time in this very special way, like in outside of Tallinn.
04:29But we lived in Tallinn.
04:30And it was such a, I mean, it's an amazing host to us.
04:33I mean, I have only fond feelings for the summer we spent there.
04:38I don't know what you should.
04:40I tell everyone now, if you're anywhere close, it's totally worth.
04:45I think people should just know that it's a really cool city, Tallinn, to go to.
04:50You could probably do Tallinn and then Helsinki.
04:53It's like a one hour ferry or something.
04:56I just think it's a really cool place that people are maybe sleeping on a little bit.
05:00I would not say it's directly based on a vacation, no.
05:03But I definitely think there's a lot of, like, real-life relationships folded into this.
05:09Just in a larger sense.
05:12You're joining me through life, perhaps.
05:14Has anybody had a vacation gone epically wrong?
05:18Oh, not me.
05:20Not like this, I mean.
05:22My flight was delayed five hours to get here.
05:26That's challenging as well.
05:28When it's an hour and a half flight, you're delayed for five.
05:31Everyone's on that flight, too.
05:33We didn't know until we landed, but we both spiritually knew we were there for each other.
05:38I've definitely been trapped in immigration rooms.
05:41As a Canadian who then moved to the U.K., then moved to the U.S., and back to the U.K.,
05:45I've definitely been in the, like, holding cell and the sweat of that room and the anxiety of it.
05:52Yeah, I don't recommend it.